2015-03-31T22:23:35ZMetadata’s Next Top Model: RDF and Its Impact on Digital Library Technologyhttp://hdl.handle.net/2022/19603
Metadata’s Next Top Model: RDF and Its Impact on Digital Library Technology
Hardesty, Juliet
Metadata standards at Indiana University are well-established for many of our digital library collections. These standards have been expressed, for the most part, using XML - it’s easy to store, easy to read, easy to update, and easy to share. Newer forms of digital library technology, however, are expanding/enhancing the way that data is stored with and about digital objects, using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) to construct relationships, descriptions, and digital objects that are more semantically connected to the web. This new way of standardizing metadata has presented many challenges: introducing a new model midway through projects, migrating content from older models to RDF models, and figuring out in general what it means to use an RDF model for digital library collections.
This talk will discuss what has happened in the IU digital libraries with RDF to-date and the challenges and opportunities from this work.
2015-02-18T00:00:00ZThe Failure of Altmetricshttp://hdl.handle.net/2022/19208
The Failure of Altmetrics
Sugimoto, Cassidy
In this talk, Cassidy Sugimoto argues that altmetrics have failed to deliver on their promise. She discusses criticisms of altmetrics (including those dealing with validity and reliability issues), but argues that the largest failure of altmetrics has been the focus on a single genre—that is, the journal article—and setting altmetrics up as an alternative to citations. Sugimoto introduces the notion of outcomes-based evaluation and demonstrates that altmetrics cannot be equated with outcomes in this model. She urges the community to rethink ways in which we can build metrics that can capture larger societal impact. She discusses four axes of potential impact: production, dissemination, engagement, assessment. In each of these, she reviews various examples of current initiatives and challenges the audience to conceive of possible metrics to capture the desired outcome in each scenario.
2014-11-12T00:00:00ZGlobalization of the US: From Digital Research Project to Digital Library Serviceshttp://hdl.handle.net/2022/19206
Globalization of the US: From Digital Research Project to Digital Library Services
Dalmau, Michelle; Dowell, Erika
As part of an exhibition at the Lilly Library entitled The Globalization of the United States, 1789-1861 scheduled to open September 15, historian Konstantin Dierks and librarians Erika Dowell and Michelle Dalmau have partnered to create a digital counterpart to the physical exhibit that includes an interactive, map-based visualization. The visualization tracks several data points or “facets” about U.S. interventions in the rest of the globe, from diplomatic missions to stationed military squadrons. As Dierks describes, it provides a tool for scholars and students to investigate how “the United States, no longer swaddled within the British empire, sought to recalibrate its interaction with the wider world as an independent nation.”
This presentation will focus primarily on one component of the digital exhibit, the map-based visualizations, and how we in the libraries have been able to use this project as a use case for generalizing research-oriented treatment of geospatial and temporal data. By abstracting the data gathering and mapping processes and building workflows to support these activities, we have the beginnings of a services-oriented approach to map-based discovery and inquiry that could be leveraged by other digital research projects at Indiana University. As part of this presentation we will: a) evaluate the various map-based tools with which we experimented including SIMILE Exhibit, Google Fusion, Neatline, and Leaflet, b) review the metadata challenges particular to this project and how they can be abstracted for future projects, and c) relay lessons learned when working with historical maps. We will conclude by proposing a model established by Professor Dierk’s project team, using a combination of tools and techniques referenced above, as a way forward in supporting map-based digital research projects more generally.
2014-12-10T00:00:00ZUsing Omeka: Cultural Heritage Projects at Indiana Universityhttp://hdl.handle.net/2022/19167
Using Omeka: Cultural Heritage Projects at Indiana University
Cowan, William; Jenns, Erika; Smith, Ardea
In recent years, Omeka has become an important tool for the exhibit of digital object collections. As with many technologies, Omeka can present some issues with setup and configuration, but overall, Omeka is easy to use for managing digital content. A few of the recent projects to use Omeka are the Lilly Library’s War of 1812 (http://collections.libraries.iub.edu/warof1812/) and Indiana University Library Moving Image Archive’s World War II Propaganda Films (http://collections.libraries.iub.edu/IULMIA/). The two projects discussed at this session are the Don C. Belton memorial site by the English Department, presented by Erika Jenns, and the “Regeneration in Digital Contexts: Early Black Film” conference and workshop site presented by the Black Film Center/Archive graduate assistant Ardea Smith.
Using Omeka to Represent the Library of Professor Don C. Belton (http://belton.indiana.edu/) presented by Erika Jenns
Using my experiences cataloguing the collection of Professor Don Belton, the late novelist, book collector, and English professor at Indiana University Bloomington, I will address the benefits of using Omeka to create a dynamic access point for users. After Belton’s death in 2009, the bulk of his collection was transferred to branch libraries on campus. Remaining books were kept by IU’s English Department, which does not have a formal library. To make the collection more visible, I created an Omeka website, meant to function as a precursor to a visit to the collection. The site uses tags, rendering it more searchable. It also includes scans of book covers, digitized videos of Belton lecturing and reading, and posts by students who have worked with the collection. The site represents Belton's books both physically and electronically. Coupled with biographical information, it highlights Belton's research interests, sources of inspiration, and some of the works he produced.
The Proceedings of Regeneration in Digital Contexts: Early Black Film (http://www.indiana.edu/~regener8/regeneration/) presented by Ardea Smith
In 2013, the Black Film Center/Archive received a National Endowment for the Humanities Level I Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant to convene an interdisciplinary group of scholars, archivists, curators, and digital humanities technology specialists for a two-day conference and workshop, “Regeneration in Digital Contexts: Early Black Film.” The conference and workshop proceedings were documented on video and fully transcribed. To enhance public access to these proceedings, I oversaw the creation of a website utilizing the open-source Omeka platform and VideoStream 2 plugin designed by project advisor Will Cowan at Indiana University. The website anchors streaming video content to keyword-searchable transcripts of the event proceedings. Drawing on the development process for the “Regeneration” website, my presentation will discuss the practical issues of building of an Omeka-based site using IU’s webserve system with an aim to help individuals new to digital archival creation.
2014-11-19T00:00:00Z